SOLIDARITY WITH SCOTLAND

xoves, 11 de decembro de 2014

Not a Party by Christopher Carnie #Scotland #Catalonia

Scotland and Catalonia are struggling with the same issue.In Scotland, according to the Herald,
the SNP is moving away from suggestions of a Yes Alliance of the
pro-independence parties. The two smaller parties - Scottish Socialist
Party and the Greens - are reported as saying that "the SNP have decided
they are not open to that kind of arrangement."

In Catalonia Artur Mas the President of the Generalitat, and of Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya announced his "route plan to independence"
with the idea of presenting a joint list at decisive In-Out elections.
He proposed that the party list (here, we vote for a list of candidates
from a specific party, with proportions of that list actually getting
seats depending on the votes cast) should be made up not of politicians
but of noteworthy people.

Sr. Mas' idea has been rejected by the second largest party here, ERC, led by Oriol Junqueras. The two are talking, but there is little chance that ERC will agree to Mas' proposal.

In a
healthy democracy (yes, I know that democracy is just the least worst
system for running a country) political parties are about power and
vision. The collective of members and supporters has a vision. In order
to get the power to make that vision they form a party, and get
themselves elected. We've had that here with the creation of Podem, a fast-growing new party that grew from the civil protest movement here.

At the
centre of the vision it's all very clear. SNP, Greens, SSP, Convergència
and ERC all want independence for their two countries.

But it's tunnel vision: at the edges it's all blurry.

Do you
want independence with a side order of dismantling capitalism? Then vote
for the SSP. Do you want independence in a moderate, mildly
conservative state? Then vote for Convergència.

If the vision meets at the edges then parties merge. This has happened
when Tory defectors have a vision shared with UKIP. In their case a vision through the bottom of an empty beer glass. Why
can't the nationalist parties agree? Because their vision does not meet
at the edges. And, yes, because of personal agendas, personal egos and
lust for power, all aspects of the soft underbelly of democracy and all
necessary aspects of why it's an imperfect system.

And for
us, the voters? We need to see the vision of our politicians - the stuff
in the centre of the tunnel and all the blurry edges. This was why
Scotland's white paper on independence
was so important. It was the whole vision of a political group -
including the detail at the edges. Now there are differences. The SNP,
Greens and SSP share the same central vision - independence - but have
different edges.

I want to vote for an entire vision - edges and all - and that means a party. Repeat after me: "democracy is the least worst system of government..."

Compostelan, Galician, nationalist and internationalist. Married to a wonderful Scotsman, I'm committed to Scotland and the Yes Scotland , and of course to my Country Galiza. I'm a Master Reiki and naturopath and occasionally I collaborate giving my opinion in media. I have an commitment with the universe. Everything can be improved, starting with myself .... and I'm in it